Home again with time to heal

Woot! We made it!

Xander in the post-op recovery - just waking up.

Today, Xander had a triple lumen Neostar catheter installed successfully and without any problems in the OR. We had to wait awhile for the radiology report before he could eat his Zingerman's chicken broth, crackers, and Izze apple soda. We have found that the artificially flavored, HFC sweetened juices and bomb-pops that the post-op recovery provides do not help to make Xander feel better - we bring our own clear broth and whole food juice!

New Neostar catheter

When I spoke with the surgeon earlier, she said the catheter was large. She was not kidding - the line is HUGE compared to the previous lines. It IS three lumens in one line, so what did we expect?

From just the looks of it, the surgeon did outstanding work. The precision cut and stitch job would make Marc Jacobs proud. The lines are much shorter this time, making it much easier for Xander to move around and will make for healthier skin due to a lot less tape 😊 which will make him much more comfortable.

Xander being a helpful kid - on his own

When we got home, Xander was still a bit groggy, but really was sweet and helpful. Xander even helped set the diner table without being asked 😍.

As the evening progressed, his pain got a little worse and he did end up taking a pain med. He was really considerate as he really remembers that the oxycodone made him feel mean and act mean. He was really resistant to taking the meds for this reason. Emilie and I told him that it was okay and he should take one if he was feeling particularly bad. He was and he did.

Finally, the point of getting the lines a week early was to get him healed up before the chemo. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) was still outstanding on the agenda before bed. I am NOT going to be putting bloody pictures up for you all to see, but I will report on the healing that we see with HBOT. Xander got a huge bump in platelets after his morning transfusion - he went from 24k to 108k platelets with one unit. Platelets only last 3 days or so (in vivo), making it very important to maximize their immediate potential to patch up the fresh and open wounds. It was really neat to see the bruises that he has had since his platelets fell into the 20's resolve throughout the day.

I am really proud of Xander to have made it through today with such a great attitude.

Love,

Aaron